Freshman Aidan Eshelman had three hits and four RBIs Tuesday night as the Roadrunners opened a 15-run lead after three innings and walloped the Texas State Bobcats, 19-4. The game was called on the run rule in the seventh. – Photo by Joe Alexander
By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The latest chapter of the I-35 baseball rivalry between the UTSA Roadrunners and the Texas State Bobcats came complete with a wild ending Tuesday night as tempers flared between opposing coaching staffs.
After stuffing a potential big inning for Texas State in the top of the first, UTSA rallied for eight runs in the bottom half, capped by Caden Miller’s two-run homer.
By the time umpires called it on the run rule after Texas State’s at bat in the top of the seventh, the Roadrunners emerged with a 19-4 victory in a game with NCAA tournament implications.
UTSA coach Pat Hallmark’s team can clinch at least a share of the American Conference regular-season title if it wins once in a three-game series against UAB starting Thursday at Roadrunner Field. – Photo by Joe Alexander
UTSA freshman shortstop Aidan Eshelman starred offensively with three hits, including a double and two singles, and four RBIs.
He also scored three times.
As soon as the game was completed between the NCAA tournament contenders, coaches from both teams congregated at home plate.
Emotions soon boiled over with the Bobcats alleging that Roadrunners relief pitcher James Hubbard had been throwing at their hitters.
“I don’t know what happened with Hubbard,” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said. “I guess they didn’t like it.”
In the postgame, an observer close to the action in the top of the sixth inning described an at bat by Texas State’s Blake Beheler against Hubbard.
After the first pitch arrived as a routine ball one, the next three sailed behind Beheler, who had had hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning.
The three pitches thrown behind the batter zoomed past the dirt circle around home plate, thudding against the padded wall at the screen.
At that juncture, umpire Jared Higdon issued a warning to both benches.
In his postgame remarks, Hallmark told reporters that he had been talking at home plate with Texas State coach Steve Trout about the Hubbard “situation” when things got heated.
During the conversation, one of the Texas State assistants standing nearby “put his hands on me,” Hallmark said.
“So,” the UTSA coach said, “I put my hands back on him. I hope the video is available so everybody can see he put his hands on me first, and, I’m not going to let him put his hands on me.”
A Texas State assistant coach?
UTSA pitcher Kendall Dove earned the victory in one and two thirds innings of relief. Dove entered the game with two runners on base in the first inning and held Texas State scoreless. – Photo by Joe Alexander
“Yes,” Hallmark said. “I don’t even know his name. You can print that, too. I don’t know his name. But he put his hands on me, and then, I’m going to defend myself from people that put their hands on me.
“Print it all.”
Earlier in the afternoon, about 15 minutes before the first pitch, fans from both schools jammed the grandstands at the modest stadium on the UTSA campus.
They also filled just about every corner of space down the left and right field lines.
Likely, it was the largest crowd of the season at Roadrunner Field (announced later at 1,585).
The crowd included fans supporting both teams, who turned out to watch a game in the last week of the regular season between in-state rivals from separate conferences.
The Roadrunners (35-17) of the American Conference held off the hard-hitting visitors early.
In the first few innings, frustration for the Sun Belt-affiliated Bobcats (31-22) mounted as they kept hitting the ball hard, only to come up with one early run.
UTSA, meanwhile, kept taking advantage of a blizzard of Texas State mistakes in the form of walks, batters hit by pitches and errors.
By the end of the third, the Roadrunners had taken a 16-1 lead, effectively putting behind them last week’s disappointing stretch of four games in which they lost three.
Rashawn Galloway leads Texas State with a .341 batting average. The senior from Boerne is a key player on a team vying for NCAA tournament consideration. – Photo by Joe Alexander
“I’m proud of ’em,” Hallmark said of his players. “Swung the bat good. We did everything pretty well. Starting pitching wasn’t very good, but I’m very proud of (reliever Kendall) Dove going out there and throwing strikes and getting us out of that first inning.”
In the top of the first, the Bobcats had a chance to break the game open with a big inning, but they all they got was a zero on the scoreboard.
Credit Hallmark for stopping the rally before it could really get started and then Dove for finishing it.
After Roadrunners starter Blayne Lyne walked leadoff hitter Rashawn Galloway on five pitches, he threw two more balls to the next man up, Manny Salas.
At that point, catcher Andrew Stucky visited the mound as the UTSA bullpen started to get busy. Two pitches later, Hallmark walked out to the mound to make a change.
Dove entered the game and yielded a hard-hit single by Salas to left, sending Galloway to third base.
At that point, the momentum started to turn in UTSA’s favor, as Jacquae Stewart bounced a ball back to the pitcher for the first out.
On the out, Salas advanced to second base, giving the Bobcats a prime opportunity with runners at second and third and cleanup hitter Clayton Namken at the plate.
Namken, a freshman from New Braunfels, hit two home runs in the Bobcats’ fourth straight victory in a game Arkansas State on Sunday afternoon.
As he faced Dove, Namken promptly drilled an extremely loud line drive that looked like it had the velocity to go all the way to the wall if nobody stopped it,
Fortunately for UTSA, the ball went straight to Eshelman at shortstop.
The freshman made the easy catch and flipped to second base to double off Salas for a double play that ended a scoreless inning.
In the bottom of the first, the Roadrunners exploded for eight runs on five hits and three Bobcats errors. As a result, Texas State starter Titan Targac (2-4) was tagged with the loss.
Dove (4-1) earned the victory in one and two thirds innings, during which he yielded one run on four hits.
Mike DeBattista worked two innings for the Roadrunners and threw a team-high 40 pitches. He gave up two hits, two unearned runs and a walk while striking out three. – Photo by Joe Alexander
Records
Texas State 31-22
UTSA 35-17
Coming up
UAB at UTSA, Thursday, 6 p.m.
UAB at UTSA, Friday, 6 p.m.
UAB at UTSA, Saturday, 11 a.m.
(end of regular season)
American Conference tournament, at Clearwater, Fla., May 20-24.
NCAA implications
In February, Texas State won the first meeting this season in San Marcos.
UTSA rebounded with the resounding victory over its rival on Tuesday night, setting up a potential debate within the NCAA tournament selection committee about which team has the stronger case to make the 64-team field.
Texas State entered Tuesday night with a No. 43 RPI ranking, against No. 50 for UTSA.
“It’s a big game,” Hallmark said, “because we could be in a situation for an at-large bid against them … We have some work to do this weekend (against UAB).
“But if we can do what … we need to do, (and) then you compare our resume’s, hopefully we have a conference championship and a 1-1 record and a big win against ’em.
“If it comes down to an at large (bid) between us and them, I think it should clearly, clearly go our way.”
D1 Baseball and Baseball America mention both UTSA and Texas State in their latest NCAA tournament projections.
Notes on the rivalry
In the I-35 baseball rivalry, Texas State leads UTSA 64-43 in an all-time series that dates back to 1992.
On the 11th day of this season on Feb. 24, Texas State won 7-2 in San Marcos, but UTSA retaliated in the season’s last week, winning by a 15-run margin in the rematch.
Both the 19 runs and the 15-run margin are records in the series for UTSA victories.
The difference in the two games this season?
Texas State pitching gave up only two freebies in San Marcos, walking one batter and hitting one with a pitch.
On Tuesday night in San Antonio, the number was 14, including nine walks issued by Texas State pitching, plus five hit by pitch.
Hallmark vs. Trout
UTSA’s Pat Hallmark and Texas State’s Steve Trout have coached 11 games against one another.
Hallmark’s Roadrunners now hold a 6-5 advantage on Trout and the Bobcats, including a 4-1 edge at Roadrunner Field.
Christian Hallmark beats a relay throw from the outfield with a head-first slide into third base in a five-run third inning. Hallmark, the son of the UTSA head coach, dashed from first to third on a single to right field by Aidan Eshelman. – Photo by Joe Alexander
